Eskom inquiry report set to shock South Africa

The Eskom inquiry report is set to blast the lid off state capture and expose its chief participants.

6 May 2016: President Jacob Zuma and Eksom CEO Brian Molefe address the media during his monitoring visit to the state owned power utility. (Photo: GCIS)

The issue of state capture in South Africa is expected to intensify following Parliament’s adoption of the Eskom inquiry report.

The report, which is a result of thorough and protracted investigations overseen by the Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises, has been officially adopted by Parliament in the wake of an earlier ‘leak’.

The wholesale looting of Eskom exposed

A leaked copy of the draft parliamentary report caused a stir earlier in November, amidst the fierce controversy surrounding former Home Affairs minister, Malusi Gigaba. The preliminary Eskom inquiry report implicated Gigaba, along with 42 people and 25 companies, in the illicit affairs involving the embattled state owned enterprise. Gigaba labelled the report a ‘smear campaign’ before vacating office.

The Eskom inquiry report is set to blast the lid off state capture and expose its chief participants. According to the Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises, the lengthy report reveals gross maladministration, corruption and fraud as reasons for the national power supplier’s severe current misgivings.

The Committee has recommended that Parliament enact criminal complaints against all political affiliates and corporates implicated in the Eskom inquiry report. Referrals to the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture have also been tabled.

Those implicated in the Eskom inquiry report

The Eskom inquiry report points to the ‘usual suspects’ as having made unlawful and unethical private gains from their undue influence over board members and lucrative government contracts. While these familiar faces have been thrust under the spotlight of speculation before, the Committee states that its investigation into the corruption at Eskom has revealed damning and definitive evidence that should be acted upon post-haste.

The following former Eskom employees have been implicated in the report and are facing summons’ to the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture:

It’s alleged that those implicated contravened the Eskom Conversion Act and the Public Finance Management Act in order to amass personal wealth at the state’s expense. The report also suggests that a chunk of those ill-gotten gains were funnelled out of the country by way of ‘shell companies’.